September 29, 2010

Segway surprise!

I know I'm a little late to this but I just think that while it's sad it's also wonderful.

The Segway company, that one that was going to revolutionise the world, got sold off at the end of last year. It turned out that it didn't revolutionise the world but it did swallow a huge amount of capital while not doing so. Hving done so, it was worth what was paid for it: a great deal less than had been invested in it.

OK, so far so normal for venture capital. But the bloke who bought it? He decided to test out a new model, one designed for rough terrain, for cross country work.

A mogul who had just spent millions to buy the Segway motor-scooter company died after taking one of the two-wheeled gizmos for a ride around his English estate -- and going over a cliff. The crumpled body of self-made millionaire philanthropist Jimi Heselden, 62, was found next to a river along his property Sunday, his electric scooter in the water nearby. "At this time, we do not believe the death to be suspicious," said a spokesman for the police in the town of West Yorkshire in northern England. Heselden -- one of the richest men in Britain with a reported net worth of around $300 million -- is believed to have been doing double duty test-driving a new, more durable, cross-country Segway model while also tooling around his property for an inspection when the freak accident occurred around 11:40 a.m.

November 25, 2009

Jane Andrews is back in jail

Jane Andrews, Fergie's (ie, the duchess of York) former dresser is now back in jail.

Where, of course, Jane Andrews belongs. For she's been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Not that life actually means life in hte UK, she'll get out after a minimum of 12 years....prbably.

Basically, her boyfriend, a rich businessman, declined to marry her so beat him to death with a cricket bat. Would have been more appropriate to use a polo mallet but none available at the time perhaps.

Any, the question is, why did Jane Andrews bunk off for a couple of days: she must have known she would get caught. I like the speculation here.

She's 42: if she doesn't get pregnant soon she never will. So over the wall, get shagged, back to prison to have the baby.

November 14, 2009

Is there water on the Moon?

That latter really depends on whether you've been to the supermarket or not but the answer to the former is that yes, there is indeed water on the Moon. Nasa has been able to find it:

Nasa has found 'a significant amount' of water inside a crater on the
Moon in a discovery that could pave the way for the first manned lunar
base.

The agency announced that last month's audacious attempt
to smash two spacecraft into the Moon's rocky surface to find ice was a
major success.

Which is of course exceedingly good news. It makes the construction of a Moon base, permanently manned (or womaned) that much easier. And that of course is good news for all of us who want to see humanity getting off this dangerous ball of rock and getting on with getting out there to other, safer, places to live.

November 05, 2009

Neda video

You might recall the Neda video from a few months back, the shocking video footage of a young woman, Neda Soltani, dying after she had been shot in the heart during a pro-democracy demonstration in Iran.

There's an article hosting the video and explaining what was going on with the Neda video here:

Neda Agha Sultan (her name is variously given as Neda Soltani, Neda
Sultan, Neda Agha Soltan, Neda Agha Sultan, the differences coming from
a combination of the different languages of Farsi and English and tha
fact that they don't use the same alphabet) was the young woman shot
dead during the demonstrations over the Iranian electoral fraud of last
week.

There was a video taken of her death: showing the ubiquity
of camera phones around the world. And, of course, the Neda Agha Sultan
video was immediately loaded into Facebook, YouTube and all of the
other social media. It's a textbook example of how the world has
changed technologically since Tiananmen, since the Berlin Wall fell.

But do be aware that this is extremely disturbing: Neda Sultan really is dying in this video, this is not a reconstruction.

October 16, 2009

The balloon boy hoax

This is really rather fun, the Balloon Boy hoax. So, slightly crazed father builds home made balloon and fills it with helium. Son has an argument with said father and runs away and hides. Balloon slips its tether and sails away into the skies.

At which point all hell breaks loose and the FAA, the National Guard, the Air Force and Uncle Tom Cobbleigh are called out to track the balloon 70 miles across Colorado.

Upon the balloon's landing, boy is not found: he's still actually in the attic over the garage.

The drama over the skies of Colorado yesterday was indeed a hoax. The
Balloon Boy was not in fact inside the balloon at all. What had police,
the Air Foce, the FAA and the National Guard chasing across the skies
was an empty balloon: our Balloon Boy was safely at home all the while.

October 13, 2009

The fish finger fish

Not quite sure what this says about the modern world. So, some scientists decided to test children on which species of fish they could name. Excellent: but 10% of the responses included the "fish finger fish" which was a bit of a surprise.

In fact, the fish finger fish was the third most popular species named over all.

So, the scientists did what such would do and made little models of fish finger fish and....stuck them in hte aquarium at the museum. So that children could ask parents whether they were really real and parents could explain that, no, they were models, it was a joke....

Quite what happens with the parents who go "Gosh, I never knew there was a fish finger fish" I'm not quite sure....